DWP explains unexpected £300 payments landing in millions of bank accounts this week

The Department for Work and Pensions has explained unexpected £300 payments landing in bank accounts this week. The Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP ) has announced that hundreds of thousands of pensioners will start to receive their Winter Fuel Payments from THIS WEEK.

Around 1.3 million pensioner households are eligible for the payments, which are worth up to £300, after a major rule change this year. For most UK pensioners, access to the Payment will now depend on whether or not they are receiving pension credit, a benefit given to poorer pensioners.

However, Age UK estimate that roughly 1 million pensioners who are entitled to receive pension credit don't currently claim the benefit. Internal government modelling shows the decision to remove the benefit from millions of pensioners will push about 50,000 more people into relative poverty next year, and another 50,000 by the end of the decade.

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Liz Kendall said in her letter to Debbie Abrahams, the Labour chair of the work and pensions select committee: “Means-testing winter fuel payments was not a decision this government wanted or expected to take. However, we were forced to take difficult decisions to balance the books in light of the £22bn black hole we inherited.”

She added: “Given the dire state of the public finances, it’s right that we target support to those who need it most while we continue our work to fix the foundations and stabilise the economy.” Sir Keir Starmer, speaking to reporters at the G20 in Rio, said: “We’ve had a campaign to drive up pension credit, to get more pensioners on to pension credit, which obviously is not only a guarantee of the winter fuel allowance, but also gives the credit itself. So there’s an additional benefit there.”

Anyone wanting to check their eligibility can do so themselves by calling the government's pension credit claim line on 0800 99 1234 or visiting www.gov.uk/pension-credit/how-to-claim